Daily Bible Reading

Join me as I begin a journey to read through the Bible in a year. Now I have to be honest, my plan is to actually read through the Bible quicker than a year, which I believe to be a very reasonable and obtainable goal.

I will be reading through the Bible in Chronological order which means, reading the Bible as the events happen in real time. Reading this way will cause you to jump around slightly, but for the most part seems pretty straight forward.

This website is a great source in helping determine which way will work best for you. You can pick your translation and whether you would like to read through in 5 different ways which are listed as the following: Beginning to End, Chronological, Historical, New/Old, or Old/New.

I have already started, so I have a head start. Like I mentioned above my real goal is to finish the Bible ASAP reading it in its entirety. I believe it’s very important that we feed on God’s word daily, so I hope you will plan to commit to do the same as me, and lets try and make 2009 a year we grow closer to the Lord.

Psalm 1:1-3 says:

1Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked,nor stands in the way of sinners,nor sits in the seat of scoffers; 2but his delight is in the law of the LORD,and on his law he meditates day and night. 3He is like a treeplanted by streams of waterthat yields its fruit in its season,and its leaf does not wither.In all that he does, he prospers.

Operation Cast Lead

Hebrews 10:23

Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful.

Born from Above

It does not matter if you have done no harm and do not live in any willful sin. You must go further yet, or you cannot be saved. Even if you also do all the good you can and have improved all opportunities of doing good, yet this does not alter the case. Still, you must be born again.

Without this, nothing will do any good to your poor, sinful, polluted soul. You may faithfully go to church and observe the sacraments, say ever so many prayers in private; hear ever so many good sermons; read ever so many good books. Still, “you must be born again.” None of these things – nor anything else under heaven – will stand in the place of the new birth to keep you from hell, unless you are born again.

If you have not already experienced this inward work of God, let this be your continual prayer: “Lord, add this to all Your blessing – let me be born again. Deny me not this: Let me be ‘born from above.’ Take away whatever seems good to You – reputation, fortune, friends, health – only give me this, to be born of the Spirit, to be received among the children of God. Let me be born of the incorruptible seed by the Word of God. And then let me daily ‘grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!”

- John Wesley

Penn Jillette is an Atheist who was touched by a Gift

Scripture for the Day

Matthew 1:21

And she will bring forth a Son, and you shall call His name JESUS, for He will save His people from their sins.

James 3: A Story

Found this over at John Pipers website.

Great Post From John Piper

This is the newest post from Piper's blog. It was so good I had to bring it over here for all my viewers who have children who are girls.

How a 13-year-old Girl Makes a Glad DadDecember 18, 2008 By: John Piper Category: Commentary
I wrote to my 13-year-old daughter (who is attending a funeral with her mom in Georgia) that the new “signature” at the bottom of her emails has made this dad very glad. It says,

"A girl should get so lost in God, that a guy has to seek God to find her!" ~ Dannah Gresh, author.

Scripture for the Day

Psalm 78:38

Yet He, being compassionate, atoned for their iniquity and did not destroy them; He restrained His anger often and did not stir up all His wrath.

Golden Booklet of the True Christian Life

A friend loaned me this small book written by John Calvin. I love the way it starts out in Chapter one:

I. Scripture is the rule of life.

1. The goal of the new life is that God's children exhibit melody and harmony in the their conduct. What melody? The song of God's justice. What harmony? The harmony between God's righteousness and our obedience.

Only if we walk in the beauty of God's law do we become sure of our adoption as children of the Father.

You got to love a book that starts this way, "Scripture is the rule of life." Good stuff...

Scripture for the Day

Psalm 77:16

When the waters saw you, O God, when the waters saw you, they were afraid; indeed, the deep trembled.

The waters were afraid in the presence of God and the deep trembled, yet most people (including me) have no real idea of the terror of the Lord, because of His holiness compared to our filth.

Oh God help us understand and see You clearly!

Scripture for the Day

Psalm 76:8

You caused judgment to be heard from heaven; The earth feared and was still.

It’s amazing to me there are mulitudes of people out there who have no fear of God, and I dare say a large number of those people are filling our pews every Sunday. Notice what the Psalmist says the earth did when it heard God’s judgment from heaven. It feared and stood still. The earth!

After reading Psalm’s 76 this morning I read Proverbs 8. This proverb is talking about Wisdom. My NASB has a heading above Proverbs 8 that says “The Commendation of Wisdom.” From verse 22 to 31 the Bible speaks of Wisdom being present at the beginning of everything. Read verse 29 and let God’s truth sink deeply within your soul.

Proverbs 8:29

When He set for the sea its boundary So that the water would not transgress His command, When He marked out the foundations of the earth;

Notice here in verse 29 how the sea obeys God’s command not to transgress His boundary. Oh what a wonderful and powerful God who is the Ruler, King, and Master of all things. He is worthy to be praised and feared beyond all things!

Finished Sproul's Book and learned something about the Holiday's

I just finished R.C. Sproul’s book “The Holiness of God” where Sproul takes the reader through a detailed look into what it means for God to be holy. I found his writing style to be easy to follow and would highly recommend it for anyone who is seeking to deepen their faith and understanding of God.

In the last chapter I learned something that fits very well with the season we are in (Christmas). Some people do not want to offend others by saying, “Merry Christmas” so they say “Happy Holiday’s”. The word holiday is actually an abbreviation for the phase “holy day.” So people who are trying to take the religious meaning out of Christmas by saying, “Happy Holiday’s” are without knowing it really saying, “Happy Holy Day’s.”

Oh what a great, wonderful and happy holy day it is. God becoming man to redeem His people (Matthew 1:21), it’s just a shame that the Holy God of all things has to share this time of year with Santa!

Holiday Tree's

I found this video clip the other day and thought it was funny. It's only a few minutes long and worth the watch.

Scripture for the Day

Psalm 72:18

Blessed be the LORD, the God of Israel,
who alone does wondrous things.

John Piper and the Prosperity Gospel

True Prosperity Gospel

I like Paul Washer more and more everytime I listen to him. It's only about a 9 minute clip. Enjoy!

Scripture for the Day

Psalm 71:1

In You, O LORD, I have taken refuge; Let me never be ashamed.

The Holiness of God

I’m currently reading R.C. Sprouls book “The Holiness of God” and what a great book it is. Each chapter opens up new and deep thought provoking words from Sproul about the holiness of God.

Last night I finished chapter 6 “Holy Justice” which went into detail about God’s justice in the Old Testament. Let me post just one short paragraph from this chapter talking about grace and/or mercy.

Sproul writes on page 127:

“It is impossible for anyone, anywhere, anytime to deserve grace. Grace by definition is undeserved. As soon as we talk about deserving something, we are no longer talking about grace; we are talking about justice. Only justice can be deserved. God is never obligated to be merciful. Mercy and grace must be voluntary or they are no longer mercy and grace. God never “owes” grace. He reminds us more than once: “I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy” (Exod. 33:19). This is the divine prerogative. God reserves for Himself the supreme right of executive clemency.”

What a scary place to be receiving the only thing we deserve - Justice. The Bible says we are born guilty before God (Psalm 51:5). This book has changed my morning prayers slightly and I would issue a plea to all reading here, repent and turn from sin and place all your faith in Christ. Make Him Lord of all. Only then will God's terrible justice pass over us because of the grace we receive from Jesus.

Scripture for the Day

Proverbs 4:25

Let your eyes look directly forward, and your gaze be straight before you.

Scripture for the Day

Psalm 69:5-7

5O God, it is You who knows my folly,And my wrongs are not hidden from You. 6May those who wait for You not be ashamed through me, O Lord GOD of hosts;May those who seek You not be dishonored through me, O God of Israel, 7Because for Your sake I have borne reproach;Dishonor has covered my face.

Last night I allowed my flesh to rule my life, and completely brought dishonor to myself and to my Lord. Sometimes I'm amazed at how full of myself I can be, but really this should not surprise me because I've been living with myself--well forever!

Last night is one of those nights you wish you could go back and redo. Unfortunately that is not possible. Again I apologize to those I hurt and will make an attempt to never allow it to happen again. Lord willing and only by His grace I can succeed with this goal.

Scripture for the Day

Proverbs 2:6

For the LORD gives wisdom; From His mouth come knowledge and understanding.

New Book from John Piper coming early 2009

This looks to be one I will be picking up right away. You can read a review here.

James White in London

This is why I like James White. Below is 10 minute clip from a debate in London with Muslims. It's a little tough to hear, but worth the watch.

John 3:16 Conference

A friend of mine asked me to look at this article about the John 3:16 conference held a few months back. This is my email back to him. Again I would like to point out I'm on the fence of Calvinism, but am determined to let scripture speak for itself.

I have taken a few comments from the article (BOLD) and commented on them.

1. "I want to help our people understand the issue," Jerry Vines said in a phone interview prior to the conference. "I don't expect to change a whole lot of minds; my primary interest is to bring balance to the issue."

The first thing that stands out to me here, is were they really bringing balance to the issue by having no pro-calvinist views there? I mean come on. It’s easy to speak against it with no one being able to speak from the opposing side.

2. “Vines said that the Greek word for "whosoever," which occurs more than a thousand times in the New Testament, carries the idea of "anyone, anywhere, anytime. Whosoever believes in Him is John's normal way of describing saving faith."

Listen to James White address this comment from Mr. Vines below here.

3. "Does that mean we are born guilty before God?" Patterson asked. "I do not think that can be demonstrated from Scripture.”

Oh so we are born innocent and then become sinners later in life. Prove that in scripture. I will let scripture speak for itself: Psalm 51:5 “Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me.”

4. “Any teaching that God doesn't love everyone, that God has no intent or desire to save everybody or that He didn't die for the sins of all humanity is contrary to Scripture and should be rejected, he stated.”

How does he reconcile Psalm 5:5 “The boastful shall not stand before Your eyes, You hate all who do iniquity.”

5. "It doesn't seem to me that [the effectual call] helps in this particular situation, because the Jews after all were God's chosen people, they were under the covenant. If you have a covenant theology, then these people would seem to be among the elect ... it is precisely these divinely elected people who are resisting God."

I would have liked to ask about Romans 9:6-8 “Well then, has God failed to fulfill his promise to Israel? No, for not all who are born into the nation of Israel are truly members of God’s people! Being descendants of Abraham doesn’t make them truly Abraham’s children. For the Scriptures say, “Isaac is the son through whom your descendants will be counted,”[d] though Abraham had other children, too. This means that Abraham’s physical descendants are not necessarily children of God. Only the children of the promise are considered to be Abraham’s children.”

6. “Lemke also addressed the question as to whether a man is saved because he believes in Christ, or whether he believes in Christ because he's saved. He said that irresistible grace reverses the biblical order of salvation, so that regeneration precedes conversion.”

This is not a problem because of 1 Corinthians 2:14 "But a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised." The natural man cannot even understand the things of God without God removing his heart of stone and giving him a heart of flesh.

7. “Charles Stanley, pastor of the First Baptist Church of Atlanta and founder of In Touch Ministries, closed the conference with a call for the church to fulfill its mission of evangelizing the world, noting that people are longing for the assurance that God is a God of love.”

I’m very disappointed here. The Church’s mission is what Christ mission was. To call all men to repent towards God. God is love has to be kept in the whole context of the nature of God. Men are called to repent not because of God’s love, but rather because His judgment is near. This is what Christ preached, all the early apostles preached and the early Church fathers preached.

It would have been nice to hear Mr. Stanley say something like this. We need to warn, like the apostle Paul did to flee from the wrath to come. To explain to all men everywhere there is an appointed time for God’s judgment. Repent and believe. Repent and believe. God did make a way, in Christ. Repent towards God and believe in Christ. Only then will you even begin to understand the overwhelming love God has for his children.

Maybe the form of evangelizing promoted by Charles Stanley is one reason we have multitudes of false converts warming our pews. God is love, pray this prayer and get saved. People have no idea how holy God is and how our sin (breaking God’s law) offends Him greatly.

Scripture for the Day

1 John 1:6

If we say we have fellowship with him and yet keep on walking in the darkness, we are lying and not practicing the truth.

James White on the John 3:16 Conference

Here are three clips from James White at Alpha and Omega Ministries talking about Calvinism. He plays a clip from the conference then discusses what is being said. All clips are about 20 minutes long and well worth watching, but clip three is my favorite.

I am on the fence right now about Calvinism. I am determined to let scripture speak for itself.

This first clip is a former Calvinist saved out of Calvinism. His comments are very interesting and the lack of questions back to the former Calvinist is even more telling.


This clip is from a Calvinist in the audience asking a question about "double payment." Very interesting.


This clip is my favorite and the one I would recommend the most. Pas Ho Pisteuwn "Everyone Believing," Not "Every Single Person Can Believe". Put on your thinking hat...

Please note video from the Alpha and Omega site might be experiencing some issues. The videos will work, you just might have to try a couple of times.

Books

I finished reading “Wesley Gold” a book compiled by Ray Comfort about John Wesley. John Wesley was a great open air preacher in the 1700’s. The book is mainly some of his personal diary notes. It is awesome to see entries talking about 30 thousand people attending an open air session in a natural amphitheater. It was a very easy read and I highly recommend it.

I just started another book called “The Holiness of God” by R.C. Sproul. I made it through two chapters last night and had to put it down…because it was midnight. I have to get some sleep. After only two chapters, I can tell this book will be one that helps me grow deeper in my understanding of the Lord.

Oh that I may know more about the holiness of God, the God of the universe and all His greatness, this is one of my main desires for this life. To know Him and to know Him more clearly for whom He is.

Scripture for the Day

Psalm 66:18

If I had not confessed the sin in my heart, the Lord would not have listened.

Scripture for the Day

Psalm 65:4

Blessed is the one You choose and bring near, to dwell in Your courts! We shall be satisfied with the goodness of Your house, the holiness of Your temple!